No Such Thing As Ending
by magistrate
Summary: Chronicles subset. A glance at Ultima Weapon, though it may leave more questions than it answers. C.R. 4084.


**_U_**_ndulating waves above  
**L**imitless....  
**T**ime rolls on  
**I**nfinite....  
**M**ight... the might I command.  
**A**waken as I am, to heed the challenger's call.  
  
**W**hy power?  
**E**ver to brood in the darks of the depths,  
**A**nd to sleep, awaiting challenge.  
**P**ower?  
**O**f course. What else?  
**N**either cunning nor skill can compare...._  
  
  
  


No Such Thing As Ending  


  
  
  
It has come to the point where I no longer remember what I once was. There is a searing hate inside me--one which I cannot access to free myself from this prison. The infernal being residing within my mind--the silent, cold presence which I can only barely remember is one of my enemies--will not allow me my rage or even my pain. I have waited here for centuries, unable to even move to alleviate the endless monotony.  
  
My brother, Omega, would say that I am being weak--that I do not lack the power, only the resolve. I can almost hear him saying these things, but his great voice has been silenced for a long time. And longer for he than me--he is trapped in eternity, banished there by my greatest enemy. I can only pray that my two other siblings and our numerous offspring fare well in our battle--a battle whose purpose and character remain indistinct to me. And now what? What can I do to help them? The answer is one I have realized time and time again, and each time it brings me pain.  
  
I can do nothing.  
  
I am bound by bonds more powerful than any other. For these are bonds which I support but have not created; which grow weaker only because they sap my own weakening strength.  
  
I am ruined.  
  
There was a time that even I feared death. My brother may have laughed at that, but perhaps he fears it too. I am the culmination of a great magnitude of beings, and each one screams within me and struggles to go, to be free, to live. Now, their voices are silent. I stand here in mute surrender, waiting only for the day when my silent torment will cease. And death? The word has no meaning. For no matter what lies beyond that gate, I have already faced the worst in this ceaseless agony of silence. Endless... silence.  
  
I can barely know that something is happening until this beast inside me turns its attention away from controlling me. There is a deep rumbling somewhere in the earth around me, and I feel bonds of a weaker, more physical type tighten around me. My captor turns more of its attention away, and power I no longer know how to control leeches out of me. I can hear the rocks of my prison beneath the waves resonate with my pulse, _my_ power. Now, I am being drawn upwards. Dully, because I can no longer feel awe or curiosity, I wonder what is in store for me now.  
  
I can see! My captor must indeed be distracted, for her to let me have so much control of myself. As the cables draw me up, I take stock of my surroundings. Millennia have passed while I remained here in this cursed stupor--millennia of change. Slowly, my memory returns. I was imprisoned here by the daughter of my greatest enemy--the daughter also of the one who gave my august brothers their first life. Now they--we--are reviled for the crime of facing her with intent to change, of opposing for our ideals. We wage a war of power unfathomable.  
  
I am great--not as great as she, but great.  
  
I am power incarnate.  
  
Ultima Weapon.  
  
What fools are these? They draw me upwards on cables drilled into my skin--they do not realize what a treasure it is that they have discovered. I can feel pain again! With each dolorous throb I am renewed, I am driven to a frenzy which I could only dream of. I am alive again, at last.  
  
Those fools. Now what have they done? They dare draw off the energy within me, the force keeping me docile. They do not understand, perhaps they cannot understand. Humans. Like mice. They scurry along and understand nothing, realize nothing. And I am the lion to their mouse, for what human could match the spirit I embody? I will show them.  
  
_Light Pillar._  
  
One falls, and two strike. What do they think I am, some relic dredged from the depths of the ocean? I am power with which they cannot reckon.  
  
I feel a presence I have not felt in ages. Bahamut?  
  
The power washes over me, and I quail. Have I fallen this far, become this weak? Such an assault should mean nothing to me.  
  
Should mean... nothing....  
  
My sword is growing heavier. My limbs are failing me. How can prey defeat a predator?  
  
I have but one recourse.  
  
_Light Pillar._  
  
Such dizzying power! Had I possessed this? Have I expended it? Who am I, to wield such magic?  
  
Am I... Ultima?  
  
The ultimate?  
  
...an enigmatic nothing.  
  
I am power incarnate.  
  
Where has my sword fallen? It must have slipped from my fingers. There is one left. I am the stronger. I can defeat him.  
  
But he raises his sword... and I feel dissolution looming.  
  
Yes, assault me, little one. Destroy me; I, who have lived in times you cannot conceive. With a blow, you may condemn me to the Void which I have fought against for so long. At some point, even a mighty branch must give way under the weight of one last flake of snow.  
  
But tell me something first, you human, you tiny, short-lived being. Tell me... why?  
  
Why do I see the future reflected in your eyes?  
  
Lion Heart... have we met before?


End file.
